Happy Birthday - October 15 - Deschamps, Chalmers, Ozil

Deschamps played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs in France, Italy, England, and Spain, including Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia, as well as Nantes and Bordeaux.

After retiring as a player, he went into football management. He was appointed head coach of Monaco in France’s Ligue 1, leading them to the Coupe de la Ligue title in 2003 and to its first UEFA Champions League final in 2004. He resigned on 19 September 2005 after a poor start to the season, and disagreement with the club’s president.

Since then, Deschamps has gone on to manage Juventus – winning Serie B – and Marsielle, where he won Ligue 1, as well as a number of cup competitions. But since 2012, he has been manager of the French Men’s National team, guiding them to the final of Euro 2016 earlier this year.

In the final of Euro 2000, France found themselves 1-0 down to Italy in the 90th minute, before Sylvain Wiltord drew them level on the brink of added time. Then came extra time, and substitute David Trezeguet’s memorable golden goal – a superb volley from Robert Pirès’s cross.

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Happy Birthday - October 14 - Cram, Le Tissier, Dilshan

On the international scene, though, it was a different story. Le Tissier was picked by the then manager Terry Venables to start the ill-fated friendly match against the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road that had to be abandoned due to a group of England fans rioting.

In the run up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Le Tissier scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory for England B against Russia B; despite this, he was controversially overlooked by manager Glenn Hoddle for the final squad, a decision that the player himself cited as a hiatus in his career after which his form never fully recovered.

Following his retirement as a player, Le Tissier became a football pundit, and currently works as a panellist on the Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday. In 2011 he became honorary president of Guernsey F.C., for whom he briefly registered as a player in May 2013 to help with the club’s fixture congestion.

Steve Cram was one of the world’s dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed “The Jarrow Arrow”, after his hometown, Cram set world records in the 1500 m, 2000 m and the mile during a 19-day period in the summer of 1985.

He was the first man to run 1500 m under 3 minutes and 30 seconds. He won the 1500 m gold medal at the 1983 World Championships and the 1500 m silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games.